adoptée

Adoptée is the feminine singular past participle of the French verb adopter, meaning to adopt. It is used as an adjective or as a noun in contexts referring to someone who has been adopted. The masculine form is adopté, the feminine plural is adoptées, and the masculine plural is adoptés. In active voice phrases, the past participle agrees with the object when using certain constructions, but as an adjective it agrees with the noun it modifies.

As an adjective, adoptée describes someone or something that has been adopted. It must agree with the noun’s gender and number. Examples include une fille adoptée (an adopted girl), une femme adoptée (an adopted woman), un enfant adopté (an adopted child), des enfants adoptés (adopted children), des filles adoptées (adopted girls). In passive constructions, it can appear as Elle est adoptée par ses parents (she is adopted by her parents).

As a noun, adoptée can refer to the adopted person in contexts that make the meaning explicit, commonly introduced by an article: l’adoptée. More frequently, French uses other terms such as l’enfant adopté or la personne adoptée to denote the individual who has undergone adoption.

Etymology traces adoptée to the verb adopter, which comes from Latin adoptare. The term is widely used in legal, social, and familial contexts to describe the status of someone who has been brought into a family through adoption.

See also: adoption, adopter, adopté, adoptif.